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PAPERS 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



/ 

A. K. SHEPARD, 





ALBANY, N. T. : 
JOEL MUNSELL. 

1868. 



<^ ¥ ' 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 



THE COLONIAL POLICY OF SPAIN. 

From the Knickerbocker Magazine. 

The great historian of the Spanish conquests in 
America remarks : " It would seem to have been 
especially ordered by Providence that the discovery 
of the two great divisions of the American hemi- 
sphere should fall to the two races best j&tted to 
conquer and colonize them. Thus the northern 
section was consigned to the Anglo-Saxon race, 
whose orderly, industrious habits found an ample 
field for development under its colder skies, and on 
its more rugged soil ; while the southern portion, 
with its rich tropical products and treasures of 
mineral wealth, held out the most attractive bait 
to invite the enterprise of thiS Sijaniards." . 

As early as 1524, nearly a century before the 
Pilgrims had thought of peopling the chilly north 
coast, the greater portion of Central and South 
America had been explored, and Mexico and the 
isthmus of Darien colonized, by Spanish adventur- 
ers. In their desire to extend their dominions, 
expeditions were undertaken among the unknown 



4 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

regions of tropical America, which afford some of 
the most striking instances of courage, endurance, 
and perseverance recorded in history. Those of 
Pizarro to the head-waters of the Amazon, through 
the wildest portions of the Andes, and the swamps 
and jungles of the low countries, and of Cortez to 
Guatemala, stand without a parallel among military 
expeditions. 

Under the Spanish conquerors there soon rose 
large cities, rivalling in size and beauty those of 
Old Spain — not only where they found the country 
already prepared for them by the civilized ab- 
origines, but even in the most remote districts. 

The Romish church lavished its wealth in the 
erection of gorgeous cathedrals, and vast monaste- 
ries and convents, which should vie with those of 
Europe. The sea-coasts were protected by strong- 
walled towns and fortifications, and excellent paved 
roads and stone bridges were constructed through 
the most difficult mountain regions. The isthmus 
of Panama, whose obstacles to engineering, modern 
skill has only overcome by the expenditure of five 
thousand lives and millions of money, was crossed 
by a paved road from ocean to ocean, and a militarj' 
route was opened, as early as the vice-royalty of 
Cortez, across the Tehuantepec isthmus, where 
even Yankee perseverance has been fifteen years 
endeavoring to build a plank-road. 

Mines of gold and silver were opened and worked 
to such advantage, as to excite the wonder of all 
Europe at the wealth they yielded. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 5 

Witli the history of this rapid progress in material 
welfare, of the Spanish colonies, before us, how can 
we account for the spectacle which they now pre- 
sent? their governments dismembered, society in 
much the same state as in the feudal ages, their 
cities going to decay, and every branch of industry 
checked ? 

It was upon the elevated table-land of Central 
America and the Andes that the highest civili- 
zation of the aborigines was developed; and to 
obtain a satisfactory reason for the failure of the 
southern republics, we must search further than 
any influences of climate, to which the degen- 
eracy of the Spanish- American races is generally 
attributed. 

A recent writer on the Brazilian epapire says: 
" The singular ill-success which has marked almostr 
every attempt to found a stable government on the 
debris of the great Spanish empire in the west, is 
to be attributed to the jealous and monopolizing 
spirit which governed the conduct of the monarchy 
towards its dependencies. It systematically de|- 
graded the colonies by treating them as an inferioif 
class. It lowered their character and wounded^^ 
their self-esteem by refusing to recognize them as ' 
equals. It j)lanted the vices of slavery in their 
nature by persisting in treating them as slaves ; and 
when the day of liberation arrived, the moral safe- 
guards were wanting, which alone could safely con- 
duct them through the perils of political emancipa- 
tion." 



6 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

In the early con quests of the Spaniards in America, 
the conquered districts were divided among the 
crown fiivorites, or among the most enterprising 
of tlie adventurers ; and repartamieiitos of the 
natives were made, each conqueror appropriating as 
many as suited his convenience, forcing the proud 
descendants of Incas and Caciques to menial ser- 
vice. This forced servitude soon assumed all the 
worst aspects of slavery, and it may well be believed 
that the rude soldiers of the conquests were not the 
gentlest of task-masters. 

The most unheard-of barbarities were in many 
instances practiced upon the helpless and unoffend- 
ing natives. In the islands more particularly, the 
cruelties inflicted by the conquerors were so terrible 
that the native population was almost annihilated 
in a few years. Says the Rzlacion del Frovisor 
Morales, from Peru : " There are Spaniards here 
who hunt the Indians with blood-hounds, both as a 
recreation and as a means of training their dogs." 
So glaring did these outrages become, that in 1542, 
Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, addressed a memorial 
to the emperor, Charles the Fifth, setting forth the 
abuses, and calling for reform. 

Through his exertions, the council of the Indies, 
having charge of colonial aifairs, published a series 
of laws, virtually abolishing slaver}', and in other 
respects ameliorating in some degree the condition 
of the natives. The barbarities practiced upon 
them gave wa}'- to a steady and systematic oppres- 
sion. Although the ordinances prohibited the 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMEEIOA. 7 

holding of the aborigines as slaves, they did not 
apply to negroes, of whom numbers were shipped 
to the Spanish main and the islands, giving rise to 
a traffic that subsequently added to the income of 
the kings of- Spain, by the taxes imposed upon 
those engaged in it. 

Even the abolition of Indian slavery was more in 
form than in spirit, for the peon system which was 
afterward introduced, and still exists, had all the 
objectionable features of slavery, and is among the 
worst of the evils that the Spanish policy has entailed 
upon her former colonies. The services of the peon 
can be transferred to a new master, by selling 
the debt for which he is holden, and his condition 
is quite as unfortunate as that of the slave. 

Few or no females came to America with the 
early adventurers, and they consequently soon 
formed connections with the conquered races. 
Their descendants, proud of their Spanish blood, 
looked with contempt upon the race from which 
their mothers sprang, and considered the term 
Indio a reproach, while they in turn were treated 
with scorn by the natives of the peninsula. Even 
at the present time, any man who has enough of 
Indian blood in his veins to color his skin darker 
than that of a very bilious Spaniard, never addresses 
a white man but with uncovered head. 

Spain soon became aware of the character of the 
mixed population which was thus spread over her 
vast dominons in the west, and it at once became 
her policy to keep them in subjection. 



8 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMEEICA. 

«^Troops of priests were sent amongst tliem to 
inculcate principles of blind submission in spiritual 
affairs, wliich it was tbouglit (liow truly time bas 
sbown) would equally secure civil dependence. 
Altliougb some of tbese monkish emissaries were 
men of intelligence and piety, by far tbe greater 
number were unprincipled and ignorant, but too 
well fitted for tbeir task of keeping tbe colonies in 
a state of debasing superstition. Tbe gloomy 
religious rites of tbe Aztecs, and other races, 
became associated in the minds of the natives with 
the imposing ceremonials of the Eomish church, 
and gave rise to a religious fanaticism which has 
outlasted that of the most priest-ridden countries 
of Europe. 

Tbe only objects, aside from the church which 
the Americans were taught to venerate and respect, 
were Spain and its monarch ; and they were made 
to believe that the king was tbe greatest sovereign 
in the world, and that all the nations of Europe 
were tributary to him. -\^ 

Meagre as was the literature of Spain during the 
reign of Charles the Fifth, and his son, that which 
penetrated the gloom of the colonies was still less. 
All intercourse between them was jealously guarded, 
and they were kept as isolated as possible, tbe object 
being to prevent anything like a unity of feeling or 
action from being developed in them. This was 
tbe more easily aflfected on account of the situation 
of most of the great capitals, the cities of Mexico, 
Puebla, Gaudalaxara, Bogota, Quito, and Cuzco, 



PAPEES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 9 

lying on elevated inland plains separated from the 
sea-board by lofty mountain-ranges. 

The American possessions were considered as 
kingdoms held in fief by the Spanish crown, in 
virtue of a grant from the pope, who thus benign- 
antly disposed of millions of people on the other 
side of the world who had never even heard of him. 

The provinces were divided into vice-royalties 
and captaincies-general, each independent of the 
other, and all immediately under the king and the 
council of the Indies, having charge of American 
affairs solely, and having its own code of laws — 
the Laws of the Indies. Each viceroy had a board 
of advisers, called the audienia, composed of Q^- 
Spaniards, who could not hold lands or marry 
in the provinces, and who had the privilege of 
corresponding with the home governnient, and of 
remonstrating with the viceroys, but whose efficiency 
was neutralized by the inordinate power of the 
latter. 

** The principle which the home government carried 
out in the colonies was, that every department 
must be checked by some other, and this required 
the employment of a vast number of officials, as 
each one required a dozen others to watch him. 
A state of affairs which has survived the rule of 
Spain, and goes far toward effecting the demorali- 
zation of the republics. 

In order to keep the provinces entirely dependent 
upon the mother country, none but Spaniards were 
employed in the administration of government ; 



10 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

and although the laws did not exclude Creoles, 
they never obtained any advancement unless it was 
purchased of the court with enormous sums of 
mone}'. 

In Mexico, of fifty viceroys, hut one was a 
Mexican. Of one hundred and seventy viceroys 
in Spanish America, but four were Americans ; 
and of six hundred and ten captains-general, all 
but ten were Spaniards, and this proportion held 
true of less important ofiices. 

The Buenos Ayres Manifesto says : " Everything 
was disposed on the part of Spain in America to 
effect the degradation of her sons. It was her 
policy incessantly to diminish and depress our 
population, lest one day we should imagine aught 
against her domination, guarded by a force too 
contemptible for keeping in subjection regions so 
various and vast. Commerce was exclusively con- 
fined to herself, from a mean suspicion that opulence 
would make us proud, and render us capable of 
aspiring to free ourselves from so many vexations ; 
and we were excluded from all participation in 
public employments, in order that the natives of 
the peninsula might have entire influence over the 
country, so as to form the inclinations and habits 
necessary for retaining us in a state of dependence 
that would neither permit us to think nor to act but 
in conformity to the modes dictated by the Spaniards. 

"The complaints that were addressed to the throne 
were either lost in the distance of many thousand 
leagues, over which they had to pass, or they were 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. H 

smothered in the offices at Madind, by the pro- 
tectors of those who tyrannized over us. 

" We had no voice direct or indirect in legislating 
for our country. This Vas done for us in Spain, 
without conceding to us even the privilege of send- 
ing delegates or counsellors, to be present, and to 
state what would be suitable or otherwise, as is 
practiced by the cities of Spain. 
. " There was no remedy, but for us to bear with 
patience, and for him who could not resign himself 
to every abuse, death was considered as too light a 
punishment ; for in such cases, punishments have 
been invented of unheard-of cruelty, and revolting 
to every sentiment of humanity." " It was for- 
bidden," adds the Manifesto, " to teach us the liberal 
sciences. The viceroy, Don Joaquin Pinto, gave 
great offense by permitting a nautical school at 
Buenos Ayres, and it was ordered to be shut by a 
mandate from the court. At the same time it 
was strictly prohibited to send our youth to Paris 
for the purpose of studying the science of chemistry, 
in order to teach it upon their return. Thus were 
all kinds of knowleds-e and literature interdicted 

O 

by the stringent measures of the Spanish govern- 
ment, and the natives debarred from every avenue 
to distinction." 

Trade with foreigners was forbidden. ISlo South 
American could own a ship, or receive a cargo on 
consignment. Orders were given that no foreign 
vessel could, on any pretense, touch at a South 
American port; and the royal ordinance of 1692 



12 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

decreed that eveu ships in distress should be seized 
as prizes,, and their crews imprisoned^ V 

But in spite of every precaution to insure non- 
intercourse with other nations, the Spanish Ameri- 
cans were not insensible to the advantages to be 
derived from foreign trade, and, says Captain Hall, 
of the Royal IsTavy, " In process of time there was 
established one of the most extraordinary systems 
of organized smuggling which the world ever saw. 
This was known under the name of the contraband 
or forced trade, and was carried on in armed vessels, 
well manned, and prepared to fight their way to 
the coast, and to resist, as they often did with eifect, 
the guarda-cosias, or coast blockades of Spain. This 
singular system of warlike commerce was con- 
ducted by the Dutch, Portuguese, French, English, 
and latterly by the ISTorth Americans. In this way^ 
goods to an immense value were distributed over 
Spanish America ; and although the prices were 
necessarily high, and supply precarious, that taste 
for the comforts and luxuries of European inven- 
tion was first encouraged, which afterward operated 
so powerfully in giving a steady and intelligible 
- motive to the efforts of the patriots in their struggles 
with the mother country." 

" Agriculture, equally with commerce, was sub- 
jected to the most arbitrary and injurious restric- 
tions. Certain products were forbidden to be 
raised in America, as flax, hemp, and saffi'on. 
During the stay of Humboldt in Mexico, "orders 
were received by the viceroy of that country to root 



PAPERS OlSr SPANISH AMERICA. 13 

up all the vines in tlie northern provinces, because 
the merchants of Cadiz complained of a diminution 
in the consumption of Spanish wines." " Happily," 
says that traveler, " this order was never executed. 
It was judged that, notwithstanding the extreme 
patience of the Mexican people, it might be danger- 
ous to drive them to despair, by laying waste their 
property, and forcing them to purchase from the 
monopolists of Europe what the bounty of nature 
produced on the Mexican soil." 

Thus did the mother country selfishly seek to 
derive every benefit from the colonies, suffering 
them to advance only as much as tended to her 
own present welfare. In pursuit of this policy she 
imposed the most onerous and burdensome of 
taxes upon the natives. ISTothing was free from 
duties and tithes. The alcavala, the most vexatious 
of taxes, levied upon every transfer of goods, pressed 
heavily upon the people. ISlor was the church 
behind-hand in demanding its dues. Every reli- 
gious rite was held at a high price.. \ In the city of 
Mexico two thousand three hundred and ninety- 
two clergy were supported by a population of one 
hundred and thirty-seven thousand, while the 
income of the archbishop reached one hundred 
thousand dollars per annum. Every individual 
was compelled to buy annually a certain number of 
the pope's bulls, and a man dying without the bula 
de confesion, had all his property confiscated. 

The rigors of the inquisition were enforced with 
a severity known only to Spain itself; and we may 



14 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

judge of the hold the priesthood had upon the 
people by witnessing its power in the struggles of 
this late period. Imprisonment was the grand 
recipe for every ofl'ense, civil or religious, and it 
may well he imagined that every stage of legal 
proceedings was in the most deplorable condition. 
Justice was scarcely ever heard of. N^atives of Old 
Spain alone presided in the courts ; and the laws 
were so interpreted as to favor their own class. At 
the taking of Lima, the dungeons were found filled 
with prisoners against whom no charges could be 
found, and who had long since been forgotten. 

These are some of the main features in the policy 
pursued by Spain toward her American colonies, a 
policy at once selfish and short-sighted ; and after 
enduring three centuries of such systematic oppres- 
sion, can we wonder at the distractions of those 
colonies, now that they are cast loose upon the 
broad sea of national existence ? 



THE ISLAND OF ST. DOMINGO.^ 

From Hunfs MerchanVs Magazine. 

On the sixtli of December, 1492, after discover- 
ing the Bahamas and Cuba, Columbus descried the 
mountains of Hayti rising in shadowy outline from 
the blue Caribbean sea, and he slowly beat up to- 
wards the coast, the beauties of the island gradually 
revealing themselves to his gaze, the rich forests and 
luxuriant ]3lains spreading out towards lofty moun- 
tains clothed in the rich vegetation of the tropics. 

Here those few adventurers laid the foundation 
of that dominion which in an incredibly short space 
of time the Spaniards extended over an entire con- 
tinent, creating an immense empire, populous with 
cities and towns long before the other nations of 
Europe awoke to the full realization of the exist- 
ence of the new world ; an empire second in extent 
and importance not even to Rome in its palmiest 
days. 

To one approaching the island from the barren 
shores of the north in winter, Hayti has lost none 
of the charms which struck the Spaniards with 
admiration three hundred and seventy years ago. 
There are still the waving palms, the dark back- 



^ Written before tlie evacvxation of the island by the Spaniards. 



16 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

ground of mountains, tlie same blue sky, and the 
balmy air redolent of perfumes, though human 
passion has wrought many a change since the 
simple-minded Indians first gazed with awe upon 
the ship of Columbus. 

The aborigines of this as well as other of the 
Antilla islands, although not so far advanced in the 
path of civilization as the Aztecs or Peruvians, 
were nevertheless of a much superior type to the 
Indians of the north, or to the Caribs and natives 
of the Spanish main. They were a mild and 
peaceable race and not without some very interest- 
ing traits of character. 

Their religion, in particular, was of a more 
elevated nature than that even of the more culti- 
vated Aztecs, and was in some respects similar to 
the belief of modern spiritualists. They believed 
in but one God, and that souls immediately upon 
leaving the earth entered upon a state of existence 
very nearly allied to the terrestrial, and connected 
with the Supreme being by an ever ascending scale 
of spirits. Those who last left the bod}'^ were 
supposed to be still able to communicate with their 
earthly friends, and were called the Zemes, and 
occupied much the same position with regard to 
the Haytians, that the Penates did to the Romans. 
The late archbishop of St. Domingo possessed an 
old parchment account of the trial of some Indians 
accused of sorcery and of invoking spirits by the 
aid of a liquid distilled from a plant called Zamiaca, 
which also contained a fibre that the Indians made 



PAPEES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 17 

into a garment tliey wore to assist in the working 
of the charm derived from the liquor. 

Under the influence of this potation, and enve- 
loped in the robe of Zamiaca, the queen of the tribe 
retired to a cavern near the sea-coast and consulted 
the spirits of her ancestors with regard to matters 
of state each year at the vernal equinox, or new 
year season of the Indians. 

This and other accounts of singular customs 
existing among the natives were given in the 
m-anuscript, which also furnished a strong comment 
upon the barbarities practiced upon the Indians by 
the Spaniards, who killed thousands of them in 
digging the wells and building the immense fortifi- 
cations for the capital. 

Indeed it is to this severity towards the Indians, 
this short-sighted policy of Spain, that all the 
future evils that befell the island are to be attri- 
buted; for it was to relieve the Indians from 
their bondage that Las Casas introduced negro 
slavery, through a mistaken philanthropy, which 
has cursed not only St. Domingo but the entire 
continent. 

Few or no traces of Indian blood can now be 
found upon the island, the western portion being 
inhabited almost exclusively by blacks, and the 
eastern portion by negroes, mulattos and Spaniards. 

The west end of St. Domingo, about one-third 
the entire island, now constituting the negro repub- 
lic of Hayti, was a Spanish colony in common with 
the eastern part, till it was seized by the buccaneers 
3 



18 TAPPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

ill tlic time of Louis XIV, and annexed to France, 
to whicli country it belonged till the negro insur- 
rection in 1791. From this time till 1796 there 
were continual wars between the French, English, 
Spanish and negroes, under ToussaintL'Ouverture, 
resulting in the independence of the island, with 
L'Ouverture at the head of the government. Re- 
taken by France in 1802, it again became a separate 
nation in 1804 with Dessalines, a negro slave, 
emperor. After innumerable revolutions and inter- 
nal wars, in 1821 liayti became united with St. 
Domingo or the eastern portion of the island, 
which, under the Spaniards, had long been in a 
languishing condition, and the two sections thus 
united became a republic with General Boyer as 
president. 

In 1844, a division again occurred into two re- 
publics, with Santa Anna (not the Mexican) as 
president of the Spanish or eastern part, which was 
called the Dominican republic. It remained thus 
divided till March, 1861, when Santa Anna sold out 
the republic to Spain for twelve thousand dollars a 
year — and a large estate. This surrender of the 
island to Spain was opposed by a large portion of 
the inhabitants who were desirous of maintaining 
a republican form of government, and had been, 
previous to the annexation, in treaty with a promi- 
nent American, who they hoped would bring about 
a union with the United States — a union which 
could have been consummated to the advantage of 
the latter but for the indifference displayed by our 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 19 

government which has never taken the position in 
Spanish American affairs that belongs to it as the 
chief repubhc of the western continent. 

One such island would he of more value to the 
American nation than any two of our inland terri- 
tories or seceded states ; hut the American mania 
for extension has always regarded quantity more 
than quality, not considering the fact, that a few 
snch central points as the isthmus of Panama, the 
West India islands, or the Sandwich islands, are 
worth far more to a maritime and commercial 
nation than swampy Floridas and Louisianas of 
much greater extent. 

St. Domingo, although capable of becoming 
again the richest of the Antillas, soon became a 
heavy bill of expense to Spain : $25,000 per annum 
to a captain-general; $40,000 to an archbishop, 
and other salaries to the amount of $720,000 per 
annum, bringing no equivalent to the royal trea- 
sury. Though far from being despondent, the Cortez 
are even now scheming for the possession of the 
Haytian republic. This they hope to obtain by 
winking at >Tapoleon's operations in Mexico, while 
he winks at their's in Hayti. 

Immediately upon the arrival of the Spaniards 
in St. Domingo x^i'operty of all kinds advanced to 
an enormous extent ; houses in the capital that could 
have been bought for one thousand dollars rented 
for five and six hundred a year. Spain remember- 
ing the wealth she formerly derived from the colony 
which once exported annually $25,000,000 in gold. 



20 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

and large quantities of sugar, began to make im- 
provements in the capital, to make it wortliy tlie 
residence of vice-royalty. Old ruins were repaired 
and made into dwellings fit for tke aristocracy, and 
tlie city soon assumed quite an animated appear- 
ance. 

The capital is pleasantly located at the mouth of 
the Ozama river, which is of sufficient size to allow 
vessels of ordinary capacity to lie at the wharf. 
The town has been of great importance, and two 
hundred and fifty years ago contained nearly 100,000 
inhabitants, though it has now dwindled down to 
about 20,000. The city was taken by Drake in 
1586, and was very much damaged by an earth- 
quake in 1684, which, with the two massacres, have 
made its history quite eventful. 

The old walls and fortifications are still standing, 
and are in an excellent state of preservation. 
There are also many fine ruins, very picturesque, 
with the broad leaves of the banana and the grace- 
ful palms growing amid crumbling arches and 
fallen domes and towers. 

The brick cross and house erected by Columbus, 
and the palace erected by his brother Bartholomew, 
are still to be seen, perfect, with the exception of 
the roofs. 

The island of St. Domingo is acknowledged by 
good judges to be the most fertile of the West Indies 
by nature, and the only reason for its having re- 
mained so far behind Cuba and Porto Rico is, that 
with a small population of but 225,000, harrassed 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 12 

by continual wars witli Hayti, with an imbecile 
government, with no roads or other essentials of 
civilization, the inhabitants settled down to a life 
of indolence in a climate where nature removed 
them from the necessity of laboring. Under the 
Spanish or any other government which will pursue 
an enhghtened policy, and ofier inducements to 
colonists and settlers, the island would very soon 
rival its more flourishing neighbors. 

The topographical features of St. Domingo mark 
it as a place well adapted for a numerous and thrifty 
population. Two high mountain ranges traverse 
the interior from east to west, and from these, pro- 
ject numerous spurs or short ranges towards the 
north and south, giving to the surface of the coun- 
try a general diversity. 

Between the two sierras is the beautiful Yega 
Eeal or Royal Plain, so graphically described in 
Irving's Columbus. Here the climate is exceed- 
ingly salubrious and the soil very fertile. In this 
valley lies the town of Santiago de los Caballeros, 
the next in size to St. Domingo city. In the river 
which flows through Santiago — the river Yagui — 
after a heavy rain storm particles of gold may be 
found washed upon the shores, in the town itself. 
- Years ago the place was filled with goldsmiths, who 
carried on the principal branch of industry of the 
district. Many of the streams of the island contain 
gold, and I was shown some fine specimens that 
were found within a few miles of the capital. 
Copper mines have also been opened within thirty 



22 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

miles of St. Domingo city, and are being worked 
by an English company. A quicksilver mine 
exists within the very walls of the city, in the 
ruined convent of San Francisco, but working it is 
prohibited by the government. A coal mine has 
been found on the bay of Samana, from which coal 
has been taken by the Spanish steamers, and pro- 
nounced by the oflnLcers of superior quality. 

Coal oil has recently been discovered near Azua 
on the south coast, and not far from there — twenty 
miles from Barahona — is a valuable salt mine, 
which an American gentleman has obtained the 
privilege of working. Thus it will be seen that the 
mineral resources of the country aiford numerous 
avenues to wealth if only pursued by enterprise and 
intelligence. 

ISTo better field for emigration exists. Land has 
a merely nominal value, as agriculture is still in its 
infancy. The natives only care to raise a few 
bananas and a little corn, with a few oranges and 
cocoanuts, and their wants are supplied ; that done, 
there is no further care. They use no implements 
to cultivate the soil; hoes, ploughs and harrows are 
unknown ; the sun and rain are the only manure, 
and yet two crops a year are gathered. With all the 
bounty of nature towards this island, Indian corn 
was $21 a bushel, and though the trade winds blow 
continually, there is not such a thing as a wind-mill 
in the country, and all the corn is mashed by hand. 

The land is of every kind, suitable for various 
classes of products, heavily timbered near the rivers 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 23 

with mahogany, logwood and lignum vitse, inter- 
spersed with swampy tracts, well adapted to rice 
culture. Farther inland are rolling prairies with 
rich pasturage for herds, and broad tracts of thinly 
inhabited country, where all the products of a 
tropical climate grow wild. Cotton is perennial, 
not requiring to be renewed as in our seceded 
states. Sugar cane sprouts season after season 
from the same root, and cojffee, chocolate and 
tobacco are of peculiar excellence. In fact nothing 
is wanting to render St. Domingo the " queen of 
the Antillas" but emigrants. With emigrants 
come roads, machinery, improved agriculture and 
all the elements of civilization. Of this the Spanish 
government are aware, and they offer inducements 
to emigrants, with the object of settling the island, 
with an industrious and thrifty population. 

All implements, furniture, stock and building 
materials, for the use of settlers are admitted free 
of duty, and the colonists are exempt from taxes 
for the period of ten years. With a policy thus 
liberal, steadily pursued, St. Domingo will soon 
attain more than its former importance and again 
enrich the mother country with the products of its 
mines and soil. 

The climate (contrary to the opinion which pre- 
vails of tropical countries, indiscriminately) except 
upon the lowlands contiguous to the mouths of 
rivers, is extremely healthy, and when we consider 
the hardships which necessarily belong to the lot of 
the laboring classes in all northern countries, it 



24 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

seems strange indeed that tlie tide of emigration 
should flow entirely past this favored spot. 

Eiding from the capital, along the fine gravel 
road which leads to Bani ; with the peaks of the 
Haytian mountains towering in the distance, with 
the blue sea upon one side and upon the other a 
fertile country, where the palm, the orange and the 
banana lend all the charms of their graceful foliage 
to enhance the beauty of the scene, one cannot but 
regret that northern enterprise has not found here 
a field to work in. 

In the northern latitudes at least five months of 
the year are lost to the enjoyment of nature. 
Pinching frosts and deep snows alternate with 
thaws and rains and clouds to try the health, 
dampen the spirits and shorten the life of man. 
To provide the bare necessities of fuel, clothing 
and shelter, labor and its representative, money, 
are expended in vast quantities, which, in a climate 
where no such necessities exist, might be saved, or 
if expended, result at once in comfort and luxury. 

The soil needs no fertilizing, the sun affords heat 
throughout the year, and the climate does away 
with the need for a multiplicity of garments and 
household appurtenances which are indispensable 
in the north. 

It has been generally thought that these bounties 
of nature tend to enervate man, and that where 
nature does so much for him, he does nothing for 
himself. In proof of this position, the condition 
of society and government in tropical countries is 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 25 

cited, and tlie parts of tlie earth, wMch invite the 
residence of the most civilized races, are avoided. 
But cannot the present condition of these countries 
be traced to other causes than those of climate ? 

The highest cultivation among the nations of 
antiquity was found in the genial climates of Egypt, 
Carthage, G-reece and Rome, at a time when the 
north of Europe was the abode of rude barbarians. 

At a later day, the Moors established and long 
maintained in the south of Spain, an empire whose 
record aifords the only bright spot in the history of 
Europe for many years, and later still upon the 
sunny plains of Italy arose the powerful republics, 
whose culture and refinement modern nations can 
imitate, but not excel. In speaking of the colonial 
policy of Spain, I have endeavored to show some of 
the causes which have been potent in effecting the 
demoralization of the Spanish American republics. 

A careful study of the history of the decay of 
other nations within the tropical and semitropical " 
regions, will bring to light many facts which will 
serve to vindicate these much abused climates from 
the charges made against them. 



LETTER FROM PANAMA. 

At the height of the season of skating carnivals 
and sleigh rides, and their attendant evils, cold feet 
and blue noses, the staunch steamer ITorthern 
Light took her departure from the icy ^orth river 
for the warmer waters of the Caribbean sea. After 
eight days of steaming, through the storm-tossed 
waters that lay between Hatteras and the Bermudas, 
past the sunny shores of Cuba, and the peaks of 
San Domingo, whence the breezes waft to us deli- 
cious perfumes of orange groves, we at length reach 
Aspinwall. 

The passengers for California rush for the train 
which is to bear them over the big-dividend-paying 
Panama rail road, and we are left to the tender 
mercies of the fever, in Aspinwall, with its rows 
of wooden coUonaded houses, its dirty Jamaica ne- 
gresses, its listless rail road officials, and its mus- 
quitoes. 

As we sit on the piazza of the rail road office we 
notice that the city lies nearly on a level with 
the sea, that swamps encompass it ; that it is hot and 
of no earthly importance but as the terminus of the 
Panama rail road, and the points where various 
steamers connected thM'ewith " most do congre- 
gate." 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. . 27 

Tor a ride of forty-seven miles and a lialf from 
Aspinwall to Panama, the sum of $25 is asked, and 
in most cases obtained. The regular daily trains 
are truly tropical in their movements, which are 
comfortably slow and not to be hurried. 

A o-ora:eous South American forest reveals itself 
to the eye on either side of the road. "Waving 
palms, huge india-rubber trees, the tall mahogany, 
patches of sugar cane, clumps of bananas, and the 
myriad varieties of vegetation in the torrid zone, 
afford a striking contrast to the usual aspect of a 
January landscape at the north. 

At Matachin, half way between the Atlantic and 
Pacific oceans, our train stops. On a bend of the 
Chagres river, forest-clad hills on either side, lies 
this little village of bamboo huts, picturesque, with 
its steep thatched roofs, its little cocoa-nut groves 
and its noisy orange venders. 

Here we lunch on fresh bananas, luscious oranges 
and yellow sponge cake — food fit for the gods. 
Then seating ourselves in a comfortable arm-chair, 
in the conductor's quarters in the baggage car, as 
our engine pufi's up the heavy grades, we look out 
upon the hills whose summits Balboa, and those 
other heroic old Spaniards, and Morgan and his 
buccaneers have scaled, whose woods have echoed 
to the tramp of pack mules laden with the wealth 
of the Peruvian mines, and now echo to the shriek 
of locomotives. 

But what is this ? Our engine whistles, we stop 
under some palm trees, and behold ! We have 



28 . PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

descended from the mountains and before us lies 
the broad Pacific. We take up our line of march 
for Panama, whose ancient walls we discern at 
about half a mile, through the Indian suburb 
which was the scene of that shameful butchery of 
the transit passengers, never avenged by our 
government. Along the beach lie the native bongos, 
with their lateen sails and dirty crews, and from 
their fishy odors we are glad to escape within the 
walls of the city. 

Out in the Pacific, and within sight of Panama, 
lies that group of islands to which the old bucca- 
neers retired after sacking the city, and wherewith 
the spoils of the opulent town and in the societ}' of 
their fair prisoners, they held high revel. 

The most noted of the group, is the island of 
Taboga, which is even now a place of revelry for the 
Panameiios, who here break loose from the rigid 
etiquette of Spanish life. 

The island is a steep mountain, about six or eight 
miles in circumference at the base, rising abruptly 
from the Pacific ; having in fact been raised from 
the bed of the sea by volcanic action. The village 
of Taboga lies on a level space near the sea. Our 
entertainer was one of its chief men, Don M. 
Zevallos, who owns more than half the island. We 
found him at a chicheria, entertaining the village 
priest with gourds full of chicha, both gentlemen 
being just enough influenced by their potations to 
be highly entertaining. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 29 

The occasion of our visit to the island was the 
christening of Don Manuel's child, a ceremony 
deemed hy the natives of Spanish America as the 
most important rite of the church, not excepting 
that of marriage, which, indeed, they think can be 
dispensed with. 

Don Manuel's house faces the beach, and is built 
of cane, plastered with cement, and roofed with red 
tiles, with floors of brick. The dining room, par- 
lors, drawing and sitting rooms and conservatory, 
consist of one apartment open to the roof, and 
separated from the one grand sleeping room — con- 
taining, I don't know how many beds — by a bamboo 
partition. 

Two hammocks, two rough tables and some cow- 
hide covered chairs, constituted the furniture. In 
each of two corners of the room a game-cock crowed 
defiance, and another was tied to the leg of a table. 
These are indispensable appendages of a caballeros 
household. Several lean dogs, and a stray pig or two, 
in search of provender, made things lively by their 
perambulations, and kept up a good stock of fleas. 

Early in the morning after our arrival, we bathed 
in a beautiful stream, which flows through a deep 
ravine in the mountain, and leaves numbers of fine 
natural basins in the rocks. These pools were 
filled with bathers ; here, a group of negroes; highel* 
up a party of belles from Panama, splashing about 
graceful as nymphs, their white skins contrasting 
with the copper-colored Indian girl and the tawny 
half-breed. 



30 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

Sunday in Taboga was a lively day. In the 
morning the padre celebrated mass as expeditiously 
as possible, in order to be ready for the cock-tight. 
From noon till sundown the cock-pit was surrounded 
by an excited crowd, each one urging on his 
favorite bird. Among them was the padre, lend- 
ing dignity to the pastime, by his ecclesiastical 
presence and wagering his gold in the most liberal 
manner. A stabbing affray and gambling added 
to the celebration of the day. In the evening were 
two christenings, two balls and a fandango, at 
which entertainments, ale, whisky, wine and chica 
disappeared in a mysteriously rapid manner. 

At three o'clock in the morning, as we pulled off 
to the steamer through the gray mist of the coming 
dawn, the drum at the fandango, and the fiddles at 
the balls were still going, and sleepily we cried, as 
the southern cross paled before the rising sun, 
'■'■ adios, Taboga ! " 

, It was late the next day ere we left our room, 
which faced the ramparts, near the gate of the 
Monks, and the breeze from the Pacific blowing 
through the open windows, swung our hammocks 
to and fro, as we lay digesting our chocolate and 
enjoying that delicious laziness attainable nowhere 
but in the tropics, and indescribable but to him 
who has experienced it. 

Panama is more interesting for what it has been 
than for what it now is. It was a city of import- 
ance long before the landing of the pilgrims, so 
much did the old Spaniards get the start of the 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 31 

Englisli in settling the new world. Three times 
destroyed by j&re and once sacked by buccaneers, 
Panama was finally removed to its present strong 
position from a situation a few miles farther up the 
coast, and the new city was built to withstand all 
attacks by sea or by land. The fortifications were 
built at an expense which frightened the Spanish 
Cortez — three million dollars was more money then 
than it is now. 

That the walls were well built is evident from 
their present appearance. They are thirty or forty 
feet high ; and, although subject to the action of the 
ocean which washes them for three-fourths their 
extent, with a tide that has a rise and fall of twenty- 
two feet, and to the influences of the most destruc- 
tive of climates, they are still firm and solid, except 
in a few places, though overgrown with vines and 
trees. 

The streets of the city are very narrow, and the 
houses, unlike those of Mexico and Central America, 
are high, with projecting roofs and balconies, which 
sometimes so nearly approach each other that 
neighbors can almost shake hands from opposite 
sides of the street. 

Within the walls of the town are many pictur- 
esque old ruins, from the tops of whose solid walls 
hang the broad leaves of the banana, or graceful 
draperies of vines and bushes, growing wild and 
luxuriating under the heavy rains and hot sun, 
which is here as powerful as on the equator. The 
most interesting ruin is that of the church of Santo 



32 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

Domingo, where we examined that architectural 
wonder — the celebrated flat arch — which with a 
span of forty feet, has a total curvature of less than 
a yard. On beholding it, one involuntarily " stands 
from under," being unable to understand how it 
can hold together. And yet it has stood for more 
than a century, besides passing through the fire 
that destroyed the church. 

After dinner, d la Espagnole, always comes a ride 
along the beach, towards old Panama ; and a glorious 
ride it was. 

Behind us lay the city, with its vine-covered walls 
and watch-towers ; before us rose the blue peaks of 
the Andes, and down the bay, the islands and 
shipping caught the last glance of the setting sun, 
which seemingly lingered above the mountains as 
if loth to quit the beautiful scene. A stroll on the 
ramparts by moonlight, where black-eyed senoritas 
promenade, closed the day, and closing our eyes 
under the protecting cover of a mosquito bar, we 
recruited ourselves for a journey to Chagres. 

The Chagres was the great bugbear of the tra- 
velers to California, when the gold fever first broke 
out, and continued to be so till the isthmus was 
spanned by a rail road, and the dangers of a trip 
up or down the river were avoided. 

Many a victim to the fever and cholera have 
these waters claimed, and once Chagres was never 
spoken but fever and death were implied. 

For our voyage down the river we procured, first, 
a canoe ; second, two Indians, who sat in the bow, 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 33 

each provided with a broad paddle ; third, india- 
rubber coats, and last, though by no means least — 
provender. 

N^othing can be more beautiful or romantic than 
a canoe ride on one of these silent rivers of the 
tropics, whose waters are undisturbed by steamers, 
and the other .accompaniments of civilization. 
Reclining in the stern of our boat we glide quickly 
down the stream whose banks are covered with a 
bewildering variety of the richest vegetation. Here 
are trees towering majestically above the thick 
forest, one of which would make a whole grove in , 
barren 'New England. A perfect wall of foliage 
and vines, impenetrable to the sight, stretches down 
either side of the river. Huge alligators with 
cavernous jaws, wide open for unsuspecting flies, 
lie on every muddy slope. Occasionally we are 
startled by a sudden splashing as our canoe ap- 
proaches too nearly the shore, and one of the 
unwieldy monsters drags himself off into the water, 
leaving nothing but his back visible, which exactly 
resembles a floating log. Monkeys chatter in the 
forest, and iflocks of screaming parrots fly clumsily 
about, lending life to the otherwise quiet scene. 

A more beautiful river than the Chagres, from 
Gatun to the Caribbean, does not exist. 

At its mouth is a formidable sand-bar, so bad, 
indeed, that with the least breeze the breakers roll 
in the entire width of the river, and one seeks in 
vain for an outlet to the sea. When the transit 
route terminated here, whole boat loads of passeu- 



34 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

gers were frequently lost in attempting to land 
througli the surf. Our canoe was drawn into one 
of the numerous currents, and we were near being 
carried out to sea, and vigorous paddling was 
necessary to effect a landing. 

When there is no wind, a close observer may 
distinguish a very narrow passage directly under 
the precipice on the right of the river, whose height 
is crowned by Castle San Lorenzo, once the most 
important fortress in South America. 

We ran our canoe ashore near the old treasure 
vault, where, in the palmy days when Spain was 
mistress here, the gold and silver from trains of 
pack mules arriving from Panama was stored, 
awaiting shipment on those galleons which were 
the prey of freebooters. The old castle is the only 
interesting feature about Chagres, which is one of 
the meanest villages in 'New Granada. The fort- 
ress stands on a high peninsula, having the sea on 
three sides. On the fourth side it is approached by 
a road formerly well paved, but now sadly out of 
repair. The approach by land is protected by two 
moats running the whole width of the peninsula, 
and dividing the castle into three distinct portions 
connected by drawbridges. The timbers are now 
very rotten, and only one piece remained to the 
first bridge, and even that was unsound. While 
we were deliberating as to the propriety of cross- 
ing by this single timber, gazing down into the 
abyss below, and contemplating the unpleasant con- 
sequences which might result from a breakage 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 35 

of tlie bridge, we noticed two villainous looking 
Indians, who had followed us up the hill and were 
w^atching our movements with the greatest interest. 
Remembering that the natives of Chagres had the 
reputation of being the most unscrupulous thieves 
and cut-throats on the isthmus, and reflecting that 
should we once cross, and should that single timber 
be removed, we were entirely at the mercy of the 
two Indians, who might demand any ransom they 
chose, or leave us in the ruins without the least 
possibility of our escaping, we remained on the 
mainland, and after viewing the ruins returned to 
the village. While awaiting the concoction of one 
of those delicious cups of chocolate which the 
poorest hovel on the isthmus can always aiford, we 
read from a sketch of the exploits of Morgan the 
buccaneer, which we had brought with us to while 
away the time, the following account of the capture 
of this castle : 

" The castle was built on a high hill at the mouth 
of the river, and surrounded by strong palisades 
jB.lled with earth, and had only one entrance, which 
was by a draw-bridge over a natural ditch thirty 
feet deep. As soon as the pirates came within shot, 
the castle and the fort at the base of the hill, on 
which the former stood, oiDened their fire. The 
captain was much perplexed at the unexpected 
obstacles that opposed his passage; but saw at once 
that the only hope of success lay on the land side. 
So, early in the morning, he landed his band of four 
hundred men, and began his toilsome march through 



36 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

the woods. N^ow climbing np the precipitous rocks, 
and now cutting their way through the tangled 
woods, they toiled courageously forward, but did 
not reach the castle till two o'clock in the after- 
noon. Here they found the difficulties far greater 
even than they had anticipated ; and but for the 
fear of being denounced on their return, they would 
have abandoned the attempt. At length, after 
much hesitation and opposite counsel, they resolved 
to make the assault, cost what it would. With their 
drawn swords in one hand and fire balls in the 
other, they, with loud shouts, rushed on the pali- 
sades. The garrison immediately opened a brisk 
fire upon them, and the pirates, unable to force an 
entrance, fell back into the woods and waited till 
night should render them less conspicuous targets 
for the Spaniards. After dark they attempted to 
burn the palisades, and thus open an entrance; 
but could make no progress, and were about to 
retire disheartened, when one of them was pierced 
by an arrow which went in at the back, and pass- 
ing clear through his body, protruded at the breast. 
" The man, maddened with pain, seized the point 
and pulled it through. He then wrapped the head 
in cotton, rammed it down his musket and fired it 
back. The powder ignited the cotton, and the 
arrow falling on the dry leaves used in covering 
the houses, set them on fire. The Spaniards, 
wholly absorbed in fight, did not observe this cata- 
strophe until several houses were in flames. 



PAPEES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 37 

" A desperate attempt to stay the flames was then 
made; hut, fed hy the combustible material in the 
castle, the fire rapidly spread till it reached a barrel 
of powder, when a tremendous explosion followed, 
knocking down walls and blowing many of the 
garrison into the air. 

" Charging furiously on the few but gallant defend- 
ers, the pirates drove them over the walls into the 
river below. The governor, with a mere handful of 
followers, refusing to accept quarter, fought despe- 
rately to the last, and fell sword in hand. Of the 
two hundred and fourteen men who composed the 
garrison, only thirty remained alive, and two-thirds 
of these were wounded. I^ot an officer escaped 
death. This desperate affair cost the pirates dearly, 
for out of the four hundred that made the attack 
all but two hundred and forty were killed or 
wounded." 

Thus fell the Castle San LorenzOj and Morgan 
having now no impediment in his way ascended the 
Chagres to attack Panama. Following his example 
we betook ourselves to our canoe and ascended the 
river ; visions of warlike Spaniards in coats of mail, 
and fierce buccaneers, gradually fading away as we 
neared the rail road and approached the prosaic 
evidence of a different state of things. 



THE MINING AND AGRICULTURE OE MEXICO. 

From Hunt's MerchanVs Magazine. 

Aside from the claims upon our attention, ori- 
ginating from its political condition, tlie peculiar 
natural advantages of Mexico serve to render it 
the most attractive of countries. 

The traveler by the diligence, within a few hours 
after leaving the hot sand-hills of Vera Cruz, pass- 
ing through the fertile valleys of Cordova and 
Orizava, upon approaching the table-lands of the 
interior, finds himself in a climate of perpetual 
spring-time. Advancing to the base of the Anahuac 
mountains, the cold blasts from the peaks of the 
White Maiden and the Smoking Mount, and 
the surrounding forests of pine, forcibly remind, 
him of our northern latitudes. And this change 
from the region of palms to that of pines, has been 
effected by a journey of but two hundred miles. 

The line of perpetual snow in the latitude of the 
valley of Mexico lies at an elevation of about 14,000 
feet above the level of the sea ; and there are three 
lofty peaks, Popocatepetl, Ixtlaccihuatl and Orizava, 
whose summits are some 4,000 feet above this line. 
Orizava, as seen from the coast, among the broken 
masses of the Cordillera, was considered by Hum- 
boldt the noblest peak on the continent. All of 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 39 

them are visible at once from portions of the plain 
of Puebla, each being higher than Mont Blanc by 
some 3,000 feet. Although at their great altitude 
the atmosphere is so rarified that but few white 
men have accomplished their ascent, the Indians of 
the district are constantly at work in the crater of 
Popocatapetl, from which they obtain great quanti- 
ties of sulphur. The hotels of the capital are also 
supplied with ice from the same source, though 
from the outside of the mountain. 

The Cordillera mountains traverse the country 
in a northwesterly direction, and by following the 
19th parallel of latitude from the gulf of Mexico to 
the Pacific, we find not only the greatest general 
elevation from coast to coast, but also in its vicinity 
the highest peaks of ISTorth America. 

To the north of this line the country gradually 
becomes even. ISTear San Luis Potosi and Monterey 
large plains intervene between the short ranges 
into which the mountains are broken, and these 
plains decreasing in elevation, gradually swell into 
the broad prairies of Texas. 

Towards the south there is also a general descent 
though a more broken country, till we reach the 
isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is on the western 
slopes of these mountains that, as if in compensa- 
tion for their sterility, some of the richest silver 
mines are found, while on the Atlantic side, with a 
comparative scarcity of precious metals, the vegeta- 
ble . products are such as to render it the most 
prolific region of ]^orth America. 



40 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

Here tlie winds, which prevail from the east and 
northeast, deposit the moisture which they collect 
in their passage over the Atlantic and gulf of 
Mexico, enriching the alluvions of the coast, but, 
being stopped in their progress by intervening 
mountains, leave to the table-lands a more arid 
climate. 

Mexico has always been distinguished, above 
other countries, by its mineral wealth. Since the 
days when Cortez and Pizarro plundered its 
natives, and those of Peru, of their treasures, those 
two countries have been the greatest silver-pro- 
ducers of the world. 

Of the two, Mexico possesses the advantage of 
having her mines more favorably situated, and at 
lower elevations, which admits of their being 
worked with more profit. They yielded, from 1805 
to the time of Humboldt's visit to the country, 
according' to that author's estimates, $2,027,- 
955,000 — over two thousand millions of dollars ! 
It is, perhaps, a little singular, that with all the 
gold which was found in the country by the 
Spanish conquerors, so little should be found at the 
present time. 

That the metal so common among the Aztecs 
was found nearer their own valley than California, 
there is little doubt, and that gold may still be 
obtained in such quantities as to well repay the 
labor of getting it, is quite certain. While upon 
the isthmus of Tehuantepec, some four years since, 
the writer learned, from sources every way reliable, 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 41 

tliat |)?rtcers existed on tlie Uspanapa river, which 
has its rise among the mountains of Chiapa. 

In 1857 a survey of the states of Gruerrero and 
Michoacan was undertaken, mainly for the purpose 
of finding coal, which could he taken to Acapulco 
for the use of the Pacific steamers, and thus save a 
portion of the immense outlay now necessary to 
provide those vessels with fuel. Although not 
successful in the main object of the expedition, the 
party reported a country rich in precious metals — 
a region which had never been thought to possess 
peculiar advantages. l^or are these the only 
accounts of the mineral wealth of some of the more 
sparsely inhabited districts, which are known to 
possess unopened mines of surpassing richness. 

The most celebrated mines are those of Real del 
Monte, Pachuca and Catorce, in Central Mexico ; 
Zacatecas, Durango and La Candelaria, in l^^orth- 
ern Mexico. The Yalenciana shaft, near Guan- 
axuato, has been excavated to a depth of 1,800 feet, 
and many others are worked with profit at depths 
from 1,000 to 1,500 feet. 

In the celebrated Candeleria mine, near Durango, 
where a depth of 800 feet had been attained, the 
water was still kept from the shaft by Indians who 
carried it to the surface in raw-hide sacks, climbing 
up notched poles. Yet, with such rude manage- 
ment, the mine yielded, for five years, an annual 
profit of from $124,000 to $223,000. The Arevala 
mines produced, in seven weeks, in 1811, a clear 
profit of $200,000. 

G 



42 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

The greater part of the produce of the mines 
near the Pacific coast finds its way to England ; the 
smuggling operations in bullion being enormous, 
often carried on under the protection of British 
ships of war. 

Quite recently new mines have been discovered 
in the vicinity of Monterey and Saltillo, but the ore 
is generally so impregnated with lead as to render 
the extraction of that metal of more importance 
than that of the silver. Many of these are in the 
hands of Americans, whose smuggling operations 
across the Rio Grande rival those of the English on 
the Pacific. Owing to the perpetual revolutionary 
disturbances, and the general insecurity attendant 
upon them, many mines which were formerly 
worked with profit have been abandoned, and their 
shafts and galleries are filled with water. Many 
mining cities of the north which were, according to 
the writings of the old Spaniards, opulent and im- 
portant, have now dwindled down to mere villages, 
whose inhabitants are in constant fear of the Cam- 
anches. 

Even those mines which are now being worked 
are managed in such a rude and inefficient way as 
to cause one to wonder at the wealth they produce. 
It would be difficult to form an estimate as to what 
they would yield if submitted to that energy which 
has been pouring the treasures of California upon 
the world. The most primitive contrivances are 
generally in use for excavating the ore, .and after- 
wards for crushing it previous to the process of 



PAPERS OX SPANISH AMERICA. 43 

extracting the silver : but it is tliis most important 
part of tlie labor which is iisiiallj conducted the 
most inefficiently. 

Ores having a silver produce of less than 60 
ounces to the ton are generally smelted; those 
containing 70 to 80 ounces are amalgamated with 
mercury, as the best way of separating the silver 
from the earth and base metals with which it is 
found combined. Several things are to be taken 
into consideration before deciding whether a par- 
ticular ore is best adapted to smelting or to amalga- 
mation. If the ore containslarge quantities of lead or 
copper, it should be smelted, as only the precious 
metals combine readily with mercury, and the lead 
or copper would be lost by the amalgamation process. 
Ores, containing sulphur or iron pyrites, yield 
decidedly more silver upon being amalgamated, as 
sulphur is essential to the success of the process. 
By the old Mexican method of effecting the amal- 
gamation of the silver with mercurj', the ore and 
other ingredients are placed in a imtio, or paved 
court, and exposed to the trampling of mules till 
the combination takes place. 

The operation is very tedious, and is sometimes 
attended by the loss of all the metal under treatment. 

It is necessary that the temperature of the mix- 
ture in the patio should be raised to a certain 
degree in order to effect the combination of the 
mercury with the silver, and if it is exposed too 
long to the trampling of the mules, too much heat 
is engendered, and the metal is consequently lost. 



44 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

It is a matter of great difficulty to determine when 
tlie requisite degree of heat has been attained. Even 
when the operation is successful, the yield of silver 
is comparatively small, owing to the imperfection 
of the amalgamation. By this method the waste of 
mercury is 1| to If pounds to every pound of silver 
obtained, a most important item of expense ; more- 
over, the number of mules lost by the deleterious 
action of the mercury upon their hoofs is immense. 

Recently, some of the foreign companies have 
introduced the 8axon method of beneiiciating ore, 
which results in the saving of 1^ pounds of mercury 
to each pound of silver (over the old way), besides 
accomplishing the work in eighteen or twenty hours 
with little or no risk, and returning at least 15 per 
cent more silver from ores of the same relative 
yield. In spite of the evident advantages of this 
system of beneficiating (described at length in 
lire's Dictionary of Arts), the old one is still adhered to 
by Mexicans with all that tenacity with which they 
resist every attempt to introduce modern inventions 
and improvements. 

In addition to mining, the raising of stock forms 
an important branch of the industrial pursuits of 
the Mexicans, and few regions are better adapted 
to that purpose than the mde plains of the north, 
and the open savannas of the south of the country. 

The cattle are left to range at large till they are 
required for the market ; and the horses, till they 
attain a suitable age for breaking to the saddle, for 
which they are used almost exclusively. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 45 

Being thus unmolested by man, they acquire a 
certain wildness of manner and aspect, which dis- 
tinguishes them from our northern cattle. Horses 
and mules are remarkable for their endurance, 
which is entirely disproportioned to their small 
size. The horses are legitimate descendants of the 
old Spanish steeds, introduced by the conquerors, 
and inherit all the fire and mettle that struck terror 
to the hearts of the Aztecs. 

Each hacienda, or ranch, has its peculiar brand, 
which is burned upon all its stock, and the qualities 
of different brands of horses and cattle are discussed 
in much the same manner as brands of flour with 
us. Heavy penalties are enforced for counterfeit- 
ing a brand. 

The haciendados, or planters of Mexico, are, as 
a class, imnaensely wealthy. Their estates are 
oftener measured by the square mile than by the 
acre. The labor is performed by Indians, Feones. 
who enjoy the lot of slaves in all but the name, 
being held in bondage for debt. Every haciendado 
has upon his plantation a store, where the Indians 
in his employ can alone obtain the few necessaries 
which they require. Here they are allowed credit 
to a certain amount, an enormous profit being 
charged for every article, and their master is thus 
enabled to hold them in his service. A peon could, 
previous to the adoption of the constitution of 1857, 
be sold by transferring the debt for which he was 
held. The price of labor for field hands varies at 
from 25 to 37^ cents per day. 



46 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

As is well known, there are three distinct climates 
in tropical Mexico, the hot, the temperate and the 
cold, according to the elevation ahove the level of 
the sea. The most fertile haciendas outside of the 
tierra caliente, or hot country, are in the valleys of 
Puebla and Mexico and the plains of Apam. 

In those districts may be produced, of the finest 
quality, all the cereals and most of the fruits and 
vegetables of the temperate zone. The great 
Mexican staple is Indian corn, of which two crops 
a year are raised with very little labor. The yield 
is larger than in our most fertile regions. The 
modus operandi of the cultivators of the soil is simple 
in the extreme, and, it will readily be believed, 
would fail to produce much but in the most generous 
of soils. The plow is generally made entirely of 
wood and has but one handle. The .oxen are tied 
to it by pieces of hide, a board, bound upon the 
horns, answering the purpose of a yoke. 

An Indian brings up the rear, whose attire rivals 
in simplicity the shirt collar and spurs of a Georgia 
major, consisting merely of a hat and leather panta- 
loons, reaching nearly to the knee. And this 
within so short a distance of our Yankee civiliza- 
tion, which, however deficient in some respects, is 
at least creditable in agricultural implements. 

It must be borne in mind, too, that the corn 
which is cultivated in this primitive way, instead of 
being ground by grist mills, is mashed by hand by 
the patient Indian and half-breed Avomen, and is 
then made into that relic of Aztec culinary art, the 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 47 

tortilla. When it is stated, that even in the great 
city of Mexico, which in many respects rivals the 
capitals of Europe, probably seven-eighths of the 
inhabitants eat tortillas in preference to wheat 
bread, so.me idea maj^^ be formed of the drudgery 
imposed upon women. JSText to corn, the most 
important product of the interior is the maguey, or 
American aloe. The expense attending the culti- 
vation of this plant is small. 

It is set out in rows bordering the roads and 
fields, admirably answering the purposes of fences. 
The leaves being pointed with long sharp thorns, 
make a perfectly impassible hedge, requiring no 
care, and presenting a much better appearance than 
the shabby board and rail fences which mutilate 
our landscapes. 

The juice of the maguey, called pulque, is drunk 
in such quantities, particularly by the lower classes, 
as to render the cultivation of the plant extremely 
profitable. The glasses used in pulquerias, where 
the liquor is sold, are of such an enormous size as 
to positively frighten a foreigner who essays to 
"try" the drink. Besides being highly prized for 
its juice, the maguey is also valuable for its fibre, 
which is made into a very good quality of rope and 
cordage, and into sacks for the transportation of 
sugar and coffee from the plantations of tierra caliente. 
The long hard leaves are used to shingle the adobe, 
or sun-burned brick houses of the peasants. The 
ancient Aztecs manufactured the fibres of the plant 



48 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

into a coarse kind of cloth, thus obtaining drink, 
shelter and clothing from a single plant. 

Before considering the productions of those dis- 
tricts, where, owing to the lower elevation, the 
climate is purely tropical, the native .wine and 
brandy of the state of ]!^ueva Leon deserve men- 
tion. In this section the climate and soil are both 
admirably adapted to the culture of the grape, and 
the liquors are of a superior quality. Had the 
proprietors of the vineyards the necessary capital to 
allow their wines to accumulate till of a sufficient 
age to bear removal, and the enterprise to establish 
their brands in the markets of the United States, 
the wines of Mexico would soon supplant the spuri- 
ous articles with which the country is now overrun ; 
indeed, half a century ago, the wine-growers of the 
south of Spain were greatly alarmed lest the Mexi- 
cans should excel the products of even that favored 
region. 

In. the valley of Mexico, much of the land is now 
rendered unfit for agricultural purposes, from the 
fact of its being overflowed by the salt waters of 
the lakes. Spasmodic efforts have been made occa- 
sionally towards draining the valley ever since 1829, 
when the capital was under water for five years. 
Should the drainage ever be effected, the valley, 
with its fine climate, where frost is unknown, and 
the thermometer is seldom higher than 63° in the 
shade, will indeed be, as the natives call it, the 
srarden of the world. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 49 

But with all the advantages possessed by the 
high lands, it must be remembered, that nearly one- 
half of the Mexican republic has a purely tropical 
cHmate, and that within a few leagues of the regions 
of pines and firs, grow the palm, the orange and 
the banana. The lands bordering on the Coatza- 
coalcos, the Alvarado and their tributaries, also in 
Tamaulipas and portions of the western coast, are 
unequaled in the excellent quality of their sugar, 
cotton, rice, tobacco, coffee and chocolate, as well 
as every species of tropical fruit, mahogany and 
other valuable woods. Here in the tierra calienie, 
nature needs no assistance from man. At the end 
of the dry season the agriculturist clears away, with 
a machete, or a brush knife, the undergrowth of 
shrubs and bushes which spring up with incredible 
rapidity, and after exposure to the sun, burns it, 
leaving the fields clear. The soil is then ready for 
seed. ISTo preparing the land, no manure, no plow- 
ing is necessary. The Indian, in sowing his corn 
or planting his tobacco, or cane, merely scratches 
the soil with the point of his machete, places his 
seed, covers it with a little earth, and leaves the 
sun and rain to accomplish the work, only gather- 
ing his two bountiful crops. Cotton, which in our 
Southern states is an annual, in tropical Mexico is 
perennial, and the sugar-cane upon the isthmus of 
Tehuantepec is of the finest quality, and yields very 
great quantities of saccharine matter. Although 
enormous quantities of sugar might be exported, 
were the country in the hands of an energetic 



50 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

people, the amount produced, is but sufficient for 
home consumption. 

The coffee which is raised in many parts of 
Mexico is of the best quality, and the hotels of the 
large cities are celebrated among travelers for the 
peculiar excellence of the beverage they concoct 
from the native berry. The following remarks on 
coffee culture, of a well known writer on Central 
America, will serve to show the productiveness of 
a tropical plantation : "If the estimate of profit 
should appear large, it must be remembered that 
they are the products of a tropical clime so luxuriant 
that people forget the necessity for labor or economy, 
and in time become too indolent to attend to either 
the one or the other. 

" The following is the estimate of expenses, etc. : 
Clearing land, (500 acres), @ $30 per acre,... $15,000 

Fencing, to inclose, 2,000 

Planting trees (600,000), @ $6 per 1,000, 3,600 

Seed for trees, living and incidental expenses, 1,500 
Interest on capital, 7 per cent, two years, 3,094 

Total, $25,194 

" ISTow estimating the profits, allowing the trees 
to produce but one pound of coffee each, the third 
year, 600,000 lbs. coffee (a) say 7 cents (which is 
surely low enough, it being equal to the celebrated 
Mocha), $42,000. Deducting expenses, and adding 
10 per cent, for labor of the last year, leaves a net 
profit, at the close of the third year, of $12,606. 



PAPEES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 51 

" This is before the trees have got fully to bear- 
ing. It is no uncommon thing to obtain an aroha, 
or 25 pounds, from a single tree ; but putting all 
the trees at an average of 10 pounds a year after 
the third year, 6,000,000 pounds, at 7 cents, amounts 
to the snug sum of $420,000 per annum. Deduct 
as much as you please for expenses, and it still 
leaves a princely income, which lasts for a lifetime. 
Is it any wonder that England and France are so 
interested in Spanish American states ? And is it 
not a wonder that the United States have failed to 
see their advantages? " 

In Mexico the yield is put at two pounds to the 
tree, at which rate the above rather exaggerated 
income would be reduced to $84,000 per annum, 
which is still a very large return upon the capital 
invested. The expenses of a plantation are very 
inconsiderable, after it is once in bearing condition, 
and as land is of very little value in most sections 
of the country, the above estimate of the cost of a 
plantation is not out of the way. 

A coffee farm in full bearing presents a beautiful 
appearance. The trees are six or seven feet in 
height and are generally trained to assume the form 
of a pyramid, whose deep green foliage is inter- 
spersed with white blossoms or with the rich scarlet 
berries of the ripe coffee. 

" The temperature necessary for the culture of 
the coffee plant is precisely that which is at the 
same tinie the naost agreeable and the most condu- 
cive to health in the human constitution — the 



52 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

extremes of heat and cold beino; alike destructive 
to it. ISTor is it less exacting in regard to the soil 
in which it grows; for, besides the necessity for 
certain mineral constituents which agricultural 
chemistry has clearly defined, it demands for its 
full perfection an alluvion both rich and deep, from 
which its wide spread roots may derive an abundant 
nourishment, for it is anything but a dainty feeder, 
and soon languishes under a meagre or inappro* 
priate diet ; but with these essentials and a careful 
culture, its foliage is as clear and glossy as the coat 
of a well groomed stud, and its product the deli- 
cious beverage which the connoisseurs in the great 
cities know so well how to appreciate." 

Chocolate is even more productive than coffee, 
though it requires more care, and involves more 
risks. It will plant 500 trees to the acre, and w^ill 
yield $10 to $30 per tree per annum. 

The tobacco which is raised on the Tehuantepec 
isthmus is said, by good judges, to rival that of 
Cuba, and commands, in the capital, equal prices 
with the far-famed Havana. It is cultivated by the 
Indians, whose fields, or milpas, according to Indian 
custom, are situated at some distance from their 
villages, often in the depths of the forest. Upon 
these little patches they bestow whatever labor is 
consistent with their dislike for exertion, leaving 
the rich soil to accomplish the balance. 

The Spaniards and descendants of Spaniards who 
reside in the large cities and own haciendas or planta- 
tions in the tienri caliente. derive immense incomes 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 53 

from tlieir property. In a climate where nature 
does so much towards enriching man, organized 
labor, supervised by intelligence and energy, can- 
not fail in attaining the most happy results. The 
governments and capitalists of Europe have long 
had on eye upon the rich and fertile territories of 
Central America and Mexico. The foreigners who 
are now found in those countries, enriching them- 
selves from the mines or from the soil, are not, as 
one would suppose, their near neighbors from the 
north, but are from the countries of Europe. 

Indeed the policy pursued by the United States 
government towards the Spanish American repub- 
lics, has never been such as to encourage our citi- 
zens in any attempts to settle in them or to embark 
in commercial enterprises in fields so inviting. 
Satisfied with proclaiming to the world our belief 
in the Monroe doctrine, while playing the part of the 
dog in the manger, and professing to be the natural 
protectors of these weak and unfortunate states, we 
have suffered them to go to pieces on the rocks of 
civil discord, and never reached forth a hand to 
save them. 

In the year 1858, when General Houston proposed 
in congress the establishment of an American pro- 
tectorate over Mexico, how much sympathy did his 
plan attract ? And yet at that very time the Mexi- 
can people would have hailed such a protectorate 
with j oy, and the intelligent portion of the community 
were unanimous in desiring American intervention. 
Wearied with civil wars, they were ready to accept 



54 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

as a blessing any interference in tlieir affairs which, 
leaving them their own government, would still 
protect the country with the strong arm of law. 

Again in St. Domingo, previous to the Spanish 
usurpation, the people were anxious to annex their 
fertile island to the United States. Everything 
was done on their part to bring about annexation, 
and how did the United States receive their over- 
tures ? "With indifference, and this, by nature the 
richest of the West India islands, was suffered to 
fall into the grasp of Spain, and after refusing the 
gift of this rich domain, we purchase with millions 
a territory far less in extent and value. Perhaps 
one reason for our want of success in Spanish 
American diplomacy is that the missions and con- 
sulships to these countries have generally been 
awarded to an inferior class of politicians whose 
want of dignity and low chicanery have brought 
discredit upon the American name. 

In a somewhat extended acquaintance with Span- 
ish American cities, I never saw but one United 
States consul who spoke the language of the country 
in which he resided. A similar lack of linguistic 
accomplishments generally falls to the lot :of Ameri- 
can ministers. It may be a matter of no importance, 
and yet to a casual observer it does seem that closer 
relations might be maintained by representatives 
who, thoroughly acquainted with the people to 
whom they are accredited and alive to their wants, 
should seek to turn their knowledge to the advan- 
tage of their own country. This is more particularly 



PAPERS OX SPANISH AMERICA. 55 

true of the South and Central American repubhes, 
in which proper effort would establish the United 
States as a leader and protector. 

Mexico, STew Granada, Chili and Peru were the 
seats of the highest civilization of the aborigines of 
this continent, and it is among the elevated table- 
lands of the Cordilleras and the Andes that the 
white race must yet attain its highest perfection in 
the new world. 

In those equable and tempered climes are de- 
veloped neither the sloth and indolence of a purely 
tropical climate, nor the apathy and plodding 
dullness of the extreme north, where life itself is 
wrested from nature by hand-to-hand conjflict, and 
the exertion to maintain it often takes from existence 
its greatest charms. In every northern country 
whole classes of community barely live. 

The vicissitudes of climate, long, rigorous winters, 
the scant, unyielding soil all call for ceaseless labor. 
But on the fertile plains of Mexico, life is supported 
with scarcely any exertion, and in a perpetual spring- 
time to live is in itself happiness. Perhaps it is the 
mission of machinery to overcome the difference 
between the climates, and free man in the north 
from his many toils. Future centuries will develop 
that fact, but as yet in natural capabilities for 
civilization the north is far behind. 

It is her mongrel race which has retarded the 
development of Mexico, nor can we look for im- 
provement till a different element is introduced. 



56 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

'No one wlio has resided there, a witness of ever- 
occurring deeds of violence and tyranny, worse 
than ever disgraced a despotism, will grieve that the 
Mexican " republic," should have succumbed to 
any government which can guaranty stability and 
quiet. We might have assisted Mexico to a better 
state. "We did not. France saw the advantages 
to be derived from so rich a country. Her claims 
upon it were unjust, but no government founded 
upon justice has existed in Mexico for years. The 
only question to decide is, whether the empire will 
prove beneficial to the country and not inimical to 
ourselves.^ Quixotish ideas with regard to freedom 
and republicanism should not be allowed to have 
weight. No one would recommend a republican 
government for the barbarous tribes of Africa. 
' Mexico has been tried and found wanting, and 
no one who has carefully observed the country 
from the Coatzacoalcos to the Rio Grande — who 
has become familiar with the people, from the cul- 
tivated Spaniards of the capital to the ignorant and 
unambitious Indians of the south, or the squalid 
7rmcheros of the north, can conscientiously say that 
from their present condition, any more than from 
their past history, are the Mexican people fit for 
self-government. 

Complacent theorists may sit quietly at home, 
and while outrage upon outrage is perpetrated 
under their very eyes through the folly of intrust- 



' Written before the murder of Maximilian. 



PAPBES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 57 

ing the sacred right of suffrage to unfit men, they 
may talk eloquently of the rights of man and uni- 
versal liberty ; hut that scarcely proves that semi- 
harbarians should be allowed to usurp the privileges 
that belong only to those who have the intelligence 
to exercise them. The great faiilt with these 
theorists is, that they do not distinguish between 
the rights of men and their privileges. All men 
are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness ; " those are rights. The privileges of 
office should be intrusted only to those who are 
qualified to discharge its duties. "What could an 
uneducated boor do at the head of the finances, or 
foreign affairs of a great state ? And yet, look at 
the mismanaged municipalities, where matters that 
affect only property holders are almost entirely in 
the hands of men as unprincipled as they are 
penniless. 

In the city of Mexico, and the larger cities of the 
interior, the political power has always been centered. 
Large districts of country are entirely isolated 
from the capital, and communication is difficult 
and dangerous over the rough roads and mountain 
barriers. These isolated districts have never had 
anything to do with making or unmaking govern- 
ments. Exempt them from forced contributions 
and levies of troops, and they care not if Maximilian 
is emperor, or Santa Anna. If Central Mexico can 
be held the country is subdued. , 

It is only a strong government that can develop 
Mexico, organize and manage her resources, and 
8 



58 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

bring together the discordant elements that harass 
her. There is now in the country sufiicient intelli- 
gence to prevent a depotism any worse than the so- 
called republic has always been. Let the people 
remain quiet and they will grow into a republic. 
Already the French have inaugurated improve- 
ments in the country. Forty miles of railway from 
Vera Craz towards the capital have been com- 
pleted — a railway begun in 1856, but which could 
not be carried on under the protection of the 
republic. Twenty-five years of peace will place 
Mexico as much in advance of our land of fickle 
fortunes, principles, and weather, as the Aztecs 
were ahead of the Potawattomies. 

"What have we to fear from an empire in Mexico ? 
Is it military expeditions ? Let the timid study 
well the geography of Mexico, and they will fear 
as much the aggressions of Kussia, from her posses- 
sions on the northwest corner of the continent. 
The only country on this hemisphere with which 
we have an important trade is the empire of Brazil. 
To foster this trade congress has wisely granted 
subsidies +o a line of steamers. Shall we respect- 
fully inform the emperor that in accordance with 
the requirements of the Monroe doctrine he must 
change his form of government? Let us rather 
turn our energies towards fitting ourselves for the 
blessings of a free government which is much too 
good for us, and not thrust our republicanism upon 
people to whom it would bring as much good as 
Greek testaments to Congo negroes. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 59 

If France, or England, or Maximilian can bring 
a stable government to Mexico, let us be thankful, 
and foster our relations with the country, that we 
may profit thereby. And before we cry out against . 
" the destruction of the liberties of a free people," 
let us ascertain whether they ever were a "free 
j)eople." 

If, on the other hand, we really believe the Mon- 
roe doctrine, let us ourselves take the initiative in 
giving the country a stable government and esta- 
blish a protectorate, which will assist the Mexicans to 
that position among the nations of the earth to 
which the natural advantages of their territory 
entitle them. Should this be done, we would soon 
find in this our natural friend and ally, a market 
for our manufacturers which would amply repay us. 



MEXICO BEFORE THE FRENCH INVASION. 

Mexico, altliough so near a neighbor to the 
United States, the greatest of all innovators upon 
established customs and ancient things, has re- 
mained in nearly the same condition for genera- 
tions, an isolated remnant of mediseval times, in 
the midst of this bustling centmy. There the 
church still maintains its sway — though less strong 
of late years in its hold upon the people — with more 
vigor than in the most Catholic country of Europe. 
There the old half Moorish buildings, the cos- 
tumes of past times, and the primitive customs, all 
remain intact, while the religious festivals and 
priestly processions of the middle ages are still to 
be seen in their original purity. 

There the pack mule and the ass have not yet 
given wsiy to fast freight and express lines, and 
mounted travelers are still to be met upon the 
roads, armed with sword and lance like knight- 
errants of old. 

Whatever changes may have been wrought by 
the French invasion and the empire, prior to that, 
the romance of the country did not fail to impress 
itself forcibly even upon the newly arrived traveler. 

Upon nearing Yera Cruz, the heated air rising 
from the parched and sandy coast can be seen from 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 61 

afar, out upon the sea, and the only relieving fea- 
ture to be discerned on approaching the heat- 
oppressed city, is the snow-clad peak of Orizava, 
which crowns the mountains that rise above the 
coast. Scarce a murmur rises from the little town ; 
shut in by its walls, its church towers mouldering 
and blackened by the sultry clime: it seems an 
enchanted city of some eastern tale. 

Flocks of vultures sailing over it, or hopping 
lazily about the roofs and domes, are almost the 
only signs of life. 

But as one gazes upon the lofty mountains which 
make up the back-ground of the view, having in 
their midst that glittering dome of snow which rises 
eighteen thousand feet above the sea, his desire to 
scale them, and penetrate to the lands beyond their 
barriers, is scarcely less strong than it was in the 
bosom of Cortez, when he burned his ships and 
prepared to march upon the Aztec capital. 

JSTor does the journey fail to repay him; for 
whatever the beauties of scenery that travelers flock 
to Europe to behold — whetherthe celebrated Cornici 
road, with its Alpine views on the one hand and 
the sunny Mediterranean on the other ; its glimpses 
of orange groves in the valleys, and its picturesque 
(but dirty) little towns scattered along the coast ; or 
Como and Maggiore with their villas and gardens 
overhanging the placid waters ; or the passes of 
the Alps or the lovely bay of ]^aples with its 
islands and volcano — upon the road to Mexico are 
views that equal any of these in beauty, and surpass 



62 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

them in variety. I would be slow to advance such 
an opinion lest I should be charged with a lack of 
taste, were it not supported by the evidence of 
Humboldt who, as he states in the Political Essay 
071 Neio Spain, after visiting successively, Lima, 
Paris, Rome, ]!^aples, and the largest cities of 
Germany, was most favorably impressed by the 
capital of Mexico, " which," to use his own words, 
" left in me a recollection of grandeur which I 
principally attribute to the majestic character of its 
situation, and the surrounding scenery." 

Il^othing can. present a more rich and varied 
appearance than the valley of Mexico as seen from 
the mountains near Tacubaya. The eye sweeps 
over a vast plain of cultivated fields, in the midst of 
which are the two lakes, Chalco and Texcoco, the 
one fresh and the other salt; and near them 
rise the domes and turrets of the city, approached 
from every direction by causeways lined with elms 
and poplars. Two aqueducts, supported on lofty 
arches, stretch from the nearest mountains to the 
city, on one side of which appears the Castle of 
Chapultepec, crowning a rocky hill, and on the 
other the " magnificent convent of ]!^uestra Senora 
de G-uadalupe, joined to the mountains of Tepeyacac, 
among ravines which shelter a few date and yucca 
trees." Towards the south, the country appears an 
immense garden of orange and other fruit trees, 
affording a singular contrast to the barren moun- 
tains whose summits are covered with perpetual 
snow. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 63 

As we descend into the valley and approach the 
capital, the road is filled with a motley crowd, whose 
like can nowhere else be found. Indians in 
leather shirts and leggings, .with sandaled feet, 
trudge along in groups, carrying upon their backs, 
cages of poultry or sacks of bananas and other 
tropical fruits, from the slopes beyond the moun- 
tain. Thus they journey fifty miles or naore with 
their alcalde, or head man, in their midst, often 
relieving the tedium of the way by singing a low, 
monotonous chant. Trains of pack mules block up 
the way, some struggling with immense sticks of 
timber that trail upon the ground, others laden 
with hogskins filled with the liquor imlque. Rich 
XJlanters whirl along in their coaches with escorts 
of armed servants, and solitary travelers on horse- 
back trot or gallop b}^, with lasso at the saddlebow, 
and sword, and pennoned lance. 

Here by the roadside is a little chapel almost 
hidden amid the trees, the niche in which its patron 
saint stands filled with votive offerings, and a 
group of kneeling wayfarers telling their beads, 
while on the opposite side of the way is a ])ulqueria 
with its noisy crowd. 

Entering the city, and proceeding down a long, 
straight street, filled with horsemen and monks and 
soldiers and pretty mestizas, with mantillas or scarfs 
drawn coquettishly over the head, but leaving just 
enough of the face visible to make one wish to see 
more — we proceed to the Grand Plaza. 



64 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

Here is centered tlie life and bustle of the city. 
On one side stands the cathedral equal in size to 
many of the most celebrated of Europe, at whose 
open doors enter as equals, the descendants of 
grandees of Spain, and half-naked Indians on the 
way to their day's labor, aristocratic dames with 
liveried footmen dancing attendance, and modest 
ninas in short petticoats of gaudy colors that show 
the smallest and comeliest of feet. 

On the other side is the national palace, where 
is a continual braying of trumpets and rolling of 
drums as the guards in different portions of the vast 
building are changed. 

Opposite the palace are the portales or stone 
colonnades under which are dealers in lottery 
tickets, public scribes who do the writing for illite- 
rate chidos, venders of old books, peddlers of whips, 
spurs, and blankets — a very Palais Royal, on a 
smaller scale. Amid the noise of this busy place 
comes the tinkling of a little bell : immediately a 
deep silence falls upon the crowd. Horsemen dis- 
mount, and with uncovered heads kneel in the dust 
of the plaza ; ladies sink upon their knees regardless 
of silks or satins, and as the bell continues to sound a 
carriage passes, drawn by four white mules, in 
which is seated a priest bearing the consecrated 
wafer to some sick parishioner. 

To any one not familiar with the anomalies of 
Spanish American life, it would be cjifficult to 
describe accurately the condition of Mexico before 
the French invasion. In the cities were all the 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 65 

appliances of civilized life found in the capitals of 
Europe; cultivated society, theatres and operas; 
with no security whatever for life or property out- 
side of the towns, and very little in them. 

It is the impossibility of reconciling these two 
conditions of things which has given to Americans 
an idea that no such thing as cultivated society 
exists in Mexico. 

The population of the country is centered in the 
large cities where the rich proprietors — a few of 
whom may be said to own the entire country — 
reside. These men are content to leave the man- 
agement of their estates and mines, to their mayor 
domos, receiving as much of their income as they 
can get, an amount which varies of course with the 
honesty of the mayor domo. This official usually 
oppresses the men under him, the rancheros and 
others to whom the subdivisions of the estates are 
intrusted, and pursues the policy of getting all he 
can from the estate and doing nothing for it in 
return. The result is a gradually impoverished 
country. The rancheros after being well drilled by 
their superiors, in lessons of dishonesty and oppres- 
sion, and finding it difficult to advance their condi- 
tion, where everything is disposed so as to accrue only 
to the profit of a favored few, in time turn banditti, 
and gathering a few followers together, take from 
other ranchos what they failed to obtain from their 
own. This they find the more easy from the fact 
of the country being but thinly inhabited on the 
large plains of the north, where the most extensive 
9 



66 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

haciendas are situated, and tliey liave full scope to 
plunder with impunity. 

The chief of banditti soon becomes a person of 
importance, and after prosecuting his business for a 
few years, he finds himself chief of four or five 
hundred men, and is then in a position to treat with 
the leaders of revolutions. If he pla3''8 his cards 
well, he too becomes a leader of parties, and schemes 
for the presidency, and thus the country is filled 
with petty chiefs and generals whose bands rob 
and plunder where they list, the small parties sack- 
ing ranchos and haciendas, and the larger ones, towns 
and cities, and levying forced loans, which is polite 
for robbing. 

It may readily be believed that the haciendas must 
suiter under such a condition of affairs, although 
they are fortified and prepared for attack like 
feudal castles. 

Indeed it is frond their well stocked plains that 
the bands procure their horses and cattle and fodder 
for the commissariat. 

These immense haciendas of the north are one of 
the most interesting features of the country. They 
generally consist of a large quadrangular stone 
building — loop-holed and fortified, and with iron- 
barred windows — which incloses a spacious court- 
yard. Entering by a lofty gateway {zaguan), upon 
the right is the store where all the Indians on the 
estate are obliged to purchase whatever they need, 
and where they are kept continually in debt that 
their masters may be sure of their services. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 67 

Upon the left is the office of the haciendado or his 
mayor domo, where he transacts his business and 
issues his orders to his subordinates. 

Upon leaving the portal, we enter the court-yard 
surrounded by verandahs often filled Avith plants 
and flowers and covered with climbing vines. From 
the verandahs open the various apartments of the 
mansion occupied by the owner's family when grac- 
ing the estate with their presence. Passing through 
this court-yard we enter another which affords 
stabling for the more valuable stock, the stallions, 
saddle horses and driving mules which it would be 
dangerous to leave outside to the tender mercies of 
the banditti. In some part of the building is always 
a chapel, and at a distance lest they should be captured 
by marauders and serve as a shelter for an attack upon 
the home building, are the store-houses, granaries 
and corrals or inclosures for horses and cattle. 

This is the main farm, and is generally near the 
centre of the hacienda, which is often ten or twenty 
miles square and even more. 

Upon these large tracts run herds of horses and 
cattle, under the charge of vaqueros who are re- 
sponsible for their not straying, and have charge of 
the branding and lassoing when they are wanted for 
market. 

The haciendas are divided into ranchos or small farms 
with rancheros in charge of them who are either paid 
a salary by the haciendado or receive a percentage 
on the earnings of the rancho. The position of a 
ranchero is by no means a pleasant one when the 



68 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

proprietor of the estate leaves a mayor domo in sole 
charge, and hence, as has been stated, these hardy 
vaqueros and rancheros, trained to the saddle from 
their youth, accustomed to the use of the lasso and 
the lance, compose the stock from which the leaders 
of guerrilla and revolutionary hands are furnished. 

Beneath the rancheros are the Indians or peons 
who do the field-work, and have the worst of every- 
thing. It is these Indians who constitute the bulk 
of the population, and through their patient drudg- 
ery, the country has whatever of material prosperity 
it may possess. From them the ranks of the army 
are recruited, and whatever general happens to be 
in power, forces them into his service without cere- 
mony and with no compunctions of conscience. 

Upon the haciendas the more intelligent of the 
Indians are promoted to the positions of mozos or 
hands about the home farm, and those who are 
deserving the most confidence* are criados or ser- 
vants in the mansion of the haciendado. 

This entire system has been compared to the 
system of caste among the servants of India, and 
this resemblance to the Hindoos has been alluded 
to by Humboldt as existing in many of the peculiar 
traits of character of the Mexican Indians. He 
says, that " like the Hindoos and other nations 
which have long groaned under a civil and military 
despotism, they adhere to their customs, manners 
and opinions with extraordinary obstinacy. Accus- 
tomed to a long slavery as well under the domina- 
tion of their own sovereigns, as under that of the 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 69 

first conquerors, tlie natives patiently suffer tlie 
vexations to wMch they are frequently exposed from 
the whites. They oppose to them only a cunning, 
veiled under the most deceitful appearances of 
apathy and stupidity. 

" As the Indian can very rarely revenge himself 
on the Spaniards, he delights in making common 
cause with them for the oppression of his own fel- 
low citizens. Harassed for ages and compelled to 
a blind obedience, he wishes to tyrannize in his turn. 

" The Indian villages are governed by magistrates 
of the copper-colored race ; and an Indian alcalde 
exercises his power with the greatest severity. Op- 
pression produces everywhere the same effects, it 
everywhere corrupts the morals." 

This is one of the worst features of the Indian 
character. Let us quote from the same author 
some of their better qualities: "Without ever 
leaving the beaten track, they display great apti- 
tude in the exercise of the arts of imitation ; and 
they display a much greater still for the purely 
mechanical arts. 

" This aptitude cannot fail of becoming some day 
very valuable, when the manufactures shall take 
their flight to a country where a regenerating 
government remains yet to be created. 

"The Mexican Indians have preserved the same 
taste for flowers which Cortez found in his time, 
when a nosegay was the most valuable treat which 
could be made to the ambassadors who visited the 
court of Montezuma. 



70 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

"In the great market place of Mexico the native 
sells no peaches, nor bananas, nor roots, nor pulque 
without having his shop ornamented with flowers 
which are every day renewed. The Indian mer- 
chant appears seated in an entrenchment of verdure. 
A hedge of a yard in height, formed of fresh herbs, 
surrounds like a semi-circular wall the fruits offered 
to public sale. 

" The bottom of a smooth green is divided by 
garlands of flowers, which run parallel to one 
another. Small nosegays placed symmetrically be- 
tween the festoons, give this inclosure the appear- 
ance of a carpet strewn with flowers. The Euro- 
pean, who delights in studying the customs of the 
lower people, cannot help being struck with the 
care and elegance the natives display in distributing 
the fruits which they sell in small cages of very 
light wood ; the sapotillas, the mammea, pears and 
raisins occupy the bottom, while the top is orna- 
mented with odoriferous flowers." 

The Indian women, too, have a way of tastefully 
adorning their jet black hair with crimson flowers, 
which set off to advantage their swarthy complexion 
and features, not, by any means, wanting in expres- 
sion. 

But whatever aesthetic tastes the Indians may pos- 
sess, there is but little opportunity for them to enjoy 
anything in life. It is their lot to be hewers of wood 
and drawers of water, and the rival factions which 
harass the country are all equally hard task-masters. 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 71 

Before tlie French expedition, the pohtical condi- 
tion of Mexico was th\is. One president claimed 
the government and held by force the capital and 
neighboring towns, another occupied the port of 
Yera Cruz, and seized the customs that were 
collected at this, the most important sea-port, while 
Yidaurri, in SanLuis Potosi, at the head of his army, 
planned the establishment of a republic of the north, 
of which he should be the head. 

Between the great cities prowled bands of high- 
waymen who belonged to no particular party, but 
like the free lances in Italy of old, sold their ser- 
vices to the highest bidder, or plundered on their 
own behalf. This was the " free country," whose 
liberties the French expedition " overthrew," and 
which the diplomacy of our country apparently 
wishes to perpetuate. 

ISTor were these the only factions. In the south- 
west Juan Alvarez, the Indian general, ruled with 
despotic sway as governor of Guerrero, to which 
position he never advanced even a pretext of being 
" elected," but had nevertheless held it for years, 
regardless of the commotions that distracted the 
rest of the country^ only occasionally crossing the 
mountains, when summoned to the assistance of 
some friend who was struggling for the presidency, 
to make a descent upon the capital with his dreaded 
Pintos} 



* The Pintos are Indians, wlio, in some of the sotitheru portions of 
the country, are afflicted "with a leprosy, which leaves their skins 
spotted with white marks, giving them a terror-inspiring look. 



72 PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 

The style in which this most celebrated of -the 
Mexican heroes lives may be learned from this 
little account of a visit to his hacienda in the tierra 
caliente : 

" We found the general at breakfast in the old 
banquet hall — his wife on his right, and his child- 
ren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and aid- 
de-camp, to the number of twenty-five, surrounding 
the table. Eight or ten favorite hunting hounds lay 
grouped on the fioor around his chair. The whole 
picture reminded one of the old baronial halls. 
Massive silver cups, enormous platters and antique 
urns adorned the table. As many servants as 
guests attended upon the table. The last course 
was fruit of every imaginable variety, gathered 
fresh from the garden; among them oranges, 
bananas, pineapples, cheremoya, aguacates, grapes, 
grenadinas, watermelons, apples, peaches, plantains, 
and plums, which abound and flourish on this 
beautiful estate. The coflee, sugar, flour and segars 
which we used were all grown within a mile of the 
spot where we sat. 

'' After breakfast, which is always at twelve o'clock 
•M.j the general retired to take his siesta, while we 
strolled down through a beautiful grove of bananas 
to a mountain stream, under the guidance of Gene- 
ral Don Diego Alvarez, the governor of the state of 
Guerrero and heir to the vast estate of his father 
(which, by the way, is almost as large as the state 
of Delaware), where we found a bold stream bound- 
ing over the rocks about a hundred yards above us, 



PAPERS ON SPANISH AMERICA. 73 

forming where we bathed a baski about fifty feet in 
diameter, and about ten feet deep. Large cocoanut 
trees grew on one side, while giant pines crowned 
the opposite shore. An Indian boy at the general's 
bidding, climbed up and threw down about twenty 
of the cocoanuts, which he dexterously opened and 
gave each of us one to drink, and then, when the 
cup was emptied, cut it in twain, that we might 
eat the cream with the spoons which he had made 
of the shell. 

The general then showed us the barracks for the 
household troops which are in the palace. Three 
beautiful pieces of artillery, in perfect order, and 
one hundred men, who have been well tried, are 
here kept as a body guard, doing no other duty. 
These men are the special favorites of the general, 
and when ofi^'ered promotion refuse it if it takes 
them out of the guard. 

While Alvarez thus rested on his estate, and 
Vidaurri plotted in the north, and Juarez held the 
port of Vera Cruz, and Miramon the capital, I spent 
six months upon the isthmus of Tehuantepec. 
Here though distant but four hundred miles from 
the capital, nothing was known of the political 
condition of the country. President had suc- 
ceeded president, revolution followed revolution, 
and here in their isolated little villages, the inhabit- 
ants followed the even tenor of their way, knoMang 
little and caring less of the plots and fighting of 
the country further north. 
10 



74 PAPERS ON SPANISH. AMERICA. 

Here is found almost tlie only peaceful section of 
the country. Little Indian towns are scattered 
about, upon elevated ridges of land in the midst of 
a tropical forest. Although distant only a few 
miles from each other, each town has its own lan- 
guage, or perhaps more properly its own dialect, and 
here, with their little fields of bananas and chocolate, 
and groves of orange trees surrounding them, live 
the only inhabitants of this vast and wealthy country, 
who appear to be free from oppression and the evil 
consequences of inordinate ambition. In some of 
the larger towns, as Acayucan, Tustla, Alvarado 
and Catemaco, descendants of Spanish fanailies 
live, who have not mingled with the native races ; 
and one is often surprised to find on the broad 
piazza of some tile-roofed mansion, which bespeaks 
a condition above that of most of the inhabitants, 
some pale-faced descendant of Castilians, whose 
grace and breeding would become a palace. 

The most beautiful of these villages, is Catemaco, 
which lies to the south of Orizava, in the midst of 
one of the most picturesque regions in the world. 

In the times of the Spanish viceroys it was 
approached by a good paved road, but the " repub- 
licans " of modern days have suffered it to become 
almost obliterated, and the traveler now only reaches 
the town after the most perilous adventures ; climb- 
ing mountains, swimming rivers and crossing tor- 
rents, over which hang the worst of hammock 
bridges. After days of the hardest riding, he 
suddenly, in the midst of the forest, comes upon a 



PAPEES ON SPANISH AMERICA. 75 

little piece of that old paved road which vividly 
recalls to his mind the civilization he has left behind. 

After .trotting briskly for an hour, he turns a 
curve which brings him in full view of this loveliest 
of tropical scenes. 

A little lake, surrounded by mountain peaks, and 
upon its shores, a village of palm-thatched huts and 
tile-roofed houses, in the midst of cocoanut and 
coifee groves. 

In the streets are groups of naked children, and 
in the doorways of the cabins, Indian women clad 
only in bright colored petticoats that reach from the 
waist to the knees, and pursuing the same tedious 
process of spinning, which their Aztec ancestors 
employed. Upon the porches of the more preten- 
tious dwellings may be seen some of the descend- 
ants of the conquerors, who are satisfied to live 
here in the enjoyment of their patrimonies, and 
ignore the strife and tumult of a busier life. 

Upon the waters of the lake, glide the canoes of the 
Indian fishermen ; and, taken altogether, the scene 
is one of those which make an impression that will 
last a life time, and the remembrance of which is 
worth all the hardships that the journey costs. 



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